Steve Morison singles out two Cardiff City stars for praise against Sheffield United including 'outstanding' youngster

Steve Morison highlighted both Oliver Denham and Max Watters for their performances in the narrow defeat by Sheffield United on Saturday.

The Bluebirds boss spoke of his pride after the game at Bramall Lane, reiterating the point that his squad cost £30m less than their opponents, had an average age of 23 at the end of the match and gave a very good account of themselves at a notoriously difficult ground.

We know that this is all about planning for next season now. There are players being asked to play who likely know they won't be at the club in just a few weeks' time, while there are youngsters who clearly need more Championship football before they can be relied upon regularly in a full and gruelling campaign.

But both Denham and Watters, who are 19 and 23 respectively, gave arguably their best performances in a Bluebirds shirt against the Blades, as our player ratings suggested, and Morison was keen to praise the young duo.

"We've got some really good players, that's what I think we've learned. I think Ollie Denham was outstanding. I was gutted for him at the end when he slipped and you thought they were going to score," Morison said after the 1-0 defeat.

"Up until that moment, playing against good players, he never would have played against the Billy Sharps of this world, I thought he was excellent.

"I thought Max was really good for the 60 minutes he was on. The last time I played him I took him off after 36 minutes and today he took on so much instruction from us, he carried it out. The bits you wouldn't notice we've given him, like to stop them having quick free-kicks, he stopped every single one.

"There were really positive performances. As we know, we need to be better in the final third. We will have